Because of the physical
and mental trauma of his Soyuz 5 mission, Volynov was expected to
never fly again. This expectation proved to be wrong.

Volynov got a second
space flight. Apparently, either feeling lucky or shrugging off his
previous close call, he commanded Soyuz 21 in July 1976. When fellow
cosmonaut Vitaliy Zholobov became ill, the mission to the Salyut 5
space station was cut short. It was now Volynov's job to rescue the
stricken Zholobov. The pair would return to earth immediately.

But some
thing—again—went wrong. Volynov found him self unable to undock
from the space station. He fired the engines in an effort to get
free, but only succeed in becoming partly free. This lasted
for 90 minutes before some emergency procedures resolved the
situation. Like Soyuz 5, this mission also made a hard landing. But
Volynov (and Zholobov) again survived.

Years later, recalling
his near-death experience aboard Soyuz 5, Volynov said: “There was
no fear but a deep-cutting and very clear desire to live on when
there was no chance left.”

Boris Volynov retired
from the Russian space program in 2006. His hair was now grey, but he
and his wife Tamara—both very much alive—visited Kennedy Space
Center that year and he told his story openly to an appreciative
crowd.

Notes

If you enjoyed this
story, share it with your friends. Also, please visit our
space-related websites: